twenty-eight candles.: May 2011

It's been a little more than 11 years since my first very brush with the idea of living abroad. I never thought the day I would go back to Seoul would be because I was still living abroad.

There were only three phrases in Korean that were still stuck in my memory after all of these years and surprisingly I was able to use all of them during my short trip back:

on the plane to Seoul: joong gook saram (I'm Chinese.)
while shopping: igo eolmayeyo (How much does this cost?)
being approached by strangers: han gook mal molayo (I don't know Korean.)

Going back to my old neighbourhood brought on tons of new unrecognizable scenes, but there was still a strangely familiar feeling in the air. The old haunts I used to frequent (keep in mind I was only 13) such as the neighbourhood park, the Family Mart across the street from the school, the school itself, and the bakery, all were in their rightful places, just with a brand-new facelift. The stationary store where I spent hours trying out new pens, and Pinocchio's Pizza, a birthday party location fav, were unfortunately replaced by yet another slew of Seoul's ubiquitous coffee shops.

Where I first learned the difference between
"France" French and "Canadian" French.

Missing: the blue, white, red
bricked-sidewalk.

My old apartment!

What used to be Pinocchio's Pizza.

Kimbap.

About a week leading up to this much anticipated trip, I had the biggest jonesing for Korean food but I had to restrain myself with reminders that there were only a few days left before I would be eating the authentic stuff...

Unfortunately I ran out of money, specifically won (TIP: the banks are closed on the weekend so exchange your currency before then!), so I wasn't able to indulge on food as much as I would have liked, but thank goodness for inexpensive street food.